Game #20 Washington Capitals vs. Florida Panthers

Where: Verizon Centre, Washington, DC

When: November 19, 2007, 7:00 PM

History:
Caps Record on this Date: 5-5-3-0
Caps Game 20 Record: 12-15-3-2
All-Time vs. FLA: 32-27-9-5
Last Season vs. FLA: 3-3-2
Last Meeting: 11/15/07, WAS 1 FLA 2

This Year:
WAS Record: 6-12-1
Standings Points: 13
Division Rank: 5^th
Conference Rank: 15^th
Last Game: 11/16/2007, WAS 2 TAM 5
Streak: Loss 3

FLA Record: 8-12-1
Standings Points: 17
Division Rank: 4^th
Conference Rank: 13^th
Last Game: 11/17/2007, FLA 1 CAR 2
Streak: Loss 1

Probable Line-Ups:
Washington
Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 17 CLARK
Forward Line 2: 43 FLEISCHMANN, 92 NYLANDER, 25 KOZLOV
Forward Line 3: 18 PETTINGER, 15 GORDON, 28 SEMIN
Forward Line 4: 87 BRASHEAR, 39 STECKEL 21 LAICH
Defense Pair 1: 26 MORRISONN, 4 ERSKINE
Defense Pair 2: 2 POTHIER, 55 SCHULTZ
Defense Pair 3: 52 GREEN, 3 POTI
Goalie: 37 KOLZIG
Back-up Goalie: 1 JOHNSON

Florida
Forward Line 1: 18 PELTONEN, 12 JOKINEN, 16 HORTON
Forward Line 2: 10 BOOTH, 15 STUMPEL, 14 DVORAK
Forward Line 3: 37 GLASS, 9 WEISS, 54 KREPS
Forward Line 4: 64 MEYER, 11 CAMPBELL
Defense Pair 1: 4 BOUWMEESTAR, 22 CULLIMORE
Defense Pair 2: 24 SALEI, 21 MURPHY
Defense Pair 3: 26 VAN RYN, 2 MEZEI, 7 MONTADOR
Goalie: 29 VOKOUN
Back-up Goalie: 31 ANDERSON

Injuries:
Washington – 14 FEHR (hip) IR
Florida – OLESZ (wrist) IR, WELCH (shoulder) IR, 53 MCCLEAN (hand) DTD, 21 MURPHY (shoulder) DTD

Caps Milestones:
Alexander Semin needs 4 Points to reach 100 for his career
Chris Clark needs 2 Points to reach 100 with the Capitals
Matt Pettinger needs 5 Points to reach 100 for his career
Brian Pothier needs 6 Points to reach 100 for his career
Tom Poti needs 2 Assists to reach 200 for his career
Michal Nylander needs 6 Goals to reach 200 for his career

Preview:
The Caps will again try and put their last game out of mind as they take on the Panthers in Florida. The hope is the return of Alexander Semin to the lineup will spark the offense. Semin will start on the third line with Matt Pettinger and Boyd Gordon. Florida comes in off a loss to Carolina and is trying to beat Washington for the second time in 5 days. Look for the Caps to continue to crash the net and throw a lot of shots at Tomas Vokoun. Watch for Semin to do something special, I think he’s going to have a big night.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 3 FLA 1.

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